


Starker Spite Fics

by j_gabrielle



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Age Difference, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, BAMF Peter Parker, Based on a Tumblr Post, Date Night, Engagement, Established Relationship, Fluff, Jealous Peter Parker, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pregnancy, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Teen Tony Stark, fem!Peter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-05-16 05:46:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 6,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19311859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_gabrielle/pseuds/j_gabrielle
Summary: An anthology of Starker content from Tumblr[Rating and tags to be revised]





	1. [Fic] "I Love You"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted on Tumblr here ](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185751139827/i-dont-even-really-ship-it-but-just-out-of-spite)

Peter’s basking in the summer sunshine. Sofa pushed right up to the ceiling to floor length windows, laid up, toes curling and uncurling as he reads the latest Sharon Bolton thriller. The Facility’s air-conditioning hums on in a noise level imperceptible to normal hearing, but to Peter it’s a nice background accompaniment to the sounds of Tony working the projections of a new prototype for the Quinjet. 

He peeks over his book.

Tony is quietly playing around with the equations for the revamped thrusters with FRIDAY dutifully updating the holograms with his latest numbers. Peter bookmarks his page, setting his book aside, content to just watch him.

The prototype Shuri had fashioned out of vibranium as a welcome home gift catches the sunlight, and as Tony waves the projections into a vague shape of a wing, Peter sits up, walking over to him.

“Time for a break,” He says, gently settling a hand on his vibranium wrist. Tony saves his progress, turning in his chair to Peter.

“Hey stranger.”

“Hey,” Peter smiles, stepping forth into the warm embrace of his lover’s arms. Tony nuzzles up against his chest, and he struggles to bite down on the giggles that follow. “Tickles,” He murmurs to the crown of Tony’s dark hair. 

Peter holds Tony close. Breathing in deep, he fills his lungs with the scent of their shampoo and the perpetual tang of iron that seems to cling to him like second skin. A byproduct of the suit, Tony had once told him in the early days of their relationship. Whether he had been teasing or not, Peter does not know, and that’s alright.

He slides their hands together; warm metal to warm flesh. Peter feels, not for the first time, that this is all too good to be true. That if this were a dream then, by some stray word or sound, he could wake up at any moment, and wake to a world that did not have Tony Stark in it.

“Baby?”

“Yeah?” Peter pulls away, cupping a careful hand to the evidence of what it had costed Tony to wield the Infinity Stones. Tony leans into the touch, eyes hooded by looking right at him with a soft knowing glint.

He could still lose it all, Peter thinks with a small curl of despair. The doctors had cautioned that they did not know the true extent of the damage caused by the stones, and while both Carol and Thor are out amongst the stars seeking ways and cures, Peter chooses to live everyday like it was first and last day he could be with Tony.

“I love you,” Peter whispers, leaning in and brushing his lips to Tony’s brow. There’s a million things more he wants to tack on to those three words; I love you even if this is all I get, I love you even if all that was left of you was your little finger, I love you I love you I love you so very madly, truly I do.

“I love you,” He says again instead.

“Hmph,” Tony chuckles. “Was about to say that myself.” Peter doesn’t protest when Tony pulls away, getting to his feet. “Lunch?” He asks.

Peter slides their hands together again, meeting Tony halfway for a kiss. “Lunch,” He replies, allowing himself to fall into step with Tony.


	2. [Fic] Date at the Drive In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted on Tumblr for here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185759642822/im-glad-were-all-taking-the-piss-out-of-the)

“Repellant. Really?” 

Peter shakes the can, raising an eyebrow at Tony who shrugs, smiling wryly. “Google said to bring it?”

He shakes his head, but drops it back into their picnic basket. Tony helps him spread out their blanket on the grass, flopping down to finish downloading the app for listening to the dialogue. Peter pulls out their pillows, setting them up in a small mound just as the title credits begin to play. 

It had been an almost two hour drive out, but very much worth it. The space had been slowly filling up, over the last thirty minutes, and they’d set up camp just a little off to the side. Tonight was a double feature of Men in Black International (”That’s not Thor” “But he’s got his eyes!” “It’s still not Thor!”) and Toy Story 4. Peter shakes out their second blanket and throw it over their legs. 

At first, when Tony had suggested they do this, he’d been… Hesitant. What’s the point of a drive-in when he could just watched whatever he wanted on his laptop? Drive ins sounded so 1950s and who even does it still? Even going to a conventional movie theatre was a novel experience these days, but when they’d actually gone to the concession for some candy and their popcorn, carrying everything to their spot and finally settling into a cuddle on the blanket while the dialogue played through their earphones, Peter can see the charm.

“Emma Thompson looks really good,” Tony whistles, watching as O comes into the room to confront Molly.

“Never took you for an Emma Thompson fan.”

“Everyone’s just that bit of an Emma Thompson fan,” Tony laughs, reaching over for a handful of M&Ms. “She’s a national treasure. And she’s a Dame, isn’t she?”

Peter rolls his eyes, and doesn’t deign it with a remark. Instead, he cuddles closer to Tony under the glow of watching Molly be sent to the MIB London office, and how she somehow wrangles her way onto H’s assignment.

“Hey, doesn’t Molly look like Valkyrie?” Peter knocks his socked feet to Tony’s. The older man squints, leaning forward.

“Well, I’ll be damned…” 

Peter laughs, letting Tony wrap an arm around his mid section. “Old man, do you need your prescription glasses or something?”

When he feels a teasing, bristly kiss being pressed to corner of his jaw, so he turns his head, kissing Tony sweetly at the corner of his lips. “You know, I’d rather not  be thrown out of another place for indecency,” Tony says. “So let’s just save all that for later alright?”

“Promise?”

Tony threads their fingers together over Peter’s belly, and seals the deal with a kiss to his cheek.


	3. [Fic] Getting Engaged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185097173382/r-u-still-taking-requests-if-so-can-u-do-a)

It should’ve happened like this; they wait a few more years, at a gathering of their nearest and dearest, Tony lightheaded from adrenaline and champagne, Peter sweet and half lidded from the dancing and the kisses they’ve been exchanging the whole night. It should have been the New York city lights as their backdrop, Vision on the piano, the sight of May crying when Peter’s own waterworks begin, and Pepper leaning into Rhodey’s side with nothing but joy and approval in her eyes. When Tony proposes on one knee, he gets halfway through his speech before Peter throws himself into his arms, kissing him breathless and saying yes repeatedly between sobs and laughter.

What happens is this; Peter in the sickbay of a SHIELD facility, bruised and banged up from the latest recent encounter with the villain du jour, eating jello and talking a mile a minute about his latest project at MIT while May fusses over him. He’s got a shiner, a cut on his lip and a miscellany of scrapes that will take awhile to heal even with the healing factor, but yet, in his hospital gown, attached to drips and machines, Peter is still the most beautiful person Tony’s ever seen.

“Oh God, marry me,” He blurts. Both May and Peter fall silent, turning to look at him.

“You don’t even have a ring,” Peter quips.

He shrugs. Taking a seat on the bed, he slides his hand into Peter’s. “I’ll make you one,” He says, smiling wryly. “I’ll make you all the rings you want. I’ll ask again in Disneyland if that’s what you want. On bended knee, fireworks, get the Mouse himself to take our picture. I’ll do everything, anything, just please. Say yes.”

“Tony, he’s still too young,” May’s stern voice is like a shot in the happy bubble between them. Tony keeps his gaze on the blankets before lifting it to meet hers. Something in his must’ve shone through because her eyes soften. “Tony–”

“Yes.”

The grip of Peter’s hand in his anchors him. Holds him down even when his heart threatens to take flight. “Yes?”

“Yes,” Peter smiles, brown eyes bright, cheeks flushed. “Yes, I will marry you. Yes, I want all the rings. Every crazy little thing and all the big ones too. Yes,” He sits up, reaching over to cradle the side of Tony’s face, thumb rubbing at his goatee. “Yes, yes yes.”

And really, what was there left to do but to lean in and kiss his new fiancé breathless. When they part, May is shaking her head, but fondly amused. “Nothing I say can change your mind, huh?” She says to Peter.

“No,” He smiles, laying his head down on Tony’s shoulder. He will need to lie back down before his ribs protest, but Tony will take whatever he can get until they get out of here.


	4. [Imagine] First Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted on Tumblr](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185726317057/starker-and-first-fight-please)

It’s kinda canon at this point that Peter doesn’t like it when he perceives that he is being ‘babied’, right? I can see Tony maybe making a decision on behalf of Peter. Maybe pulling some strings/submitting his application to MIT (I legit don’t know how the college application process works in America but SUSPEND YOUR DISBELIEF HERE |ʘ‿ʘ)╯) And like. Peter’s pissed. Coz while MIT is something he has contemplated, but he’s still waffling between it and maybe NYU or something (if it isn’t already glaringly obvious that I am not American, this faffing about should clue you in) because he really doesn’t want to be that far away from Aunt May and like. Tony. 

So they get into a fight, like a proper one that has Peter’s insecurities about being younger than Tony and not being seen as an adult who is capable of making his own decisions, especially about his own life, while Tony’s holding his ground as the old man in their relationship about wanting Peter to see and experience more of the world, and that he isn’t bound by his attachments in New York. 

The fight is an all out thing, but it never gets physically violent. Neither one would hold back. Getting into all the different way they can hurt each other, digging their claws into all their scabbed over wounds. Peter will throw out things like how Tony doesn’t stop to actually talk to him about what Peter wants before assuming what Peter should want, and Tony in turn throws in how Peter can’t be too attached to things and how he shouldn’t shackle himself to New York because of attachments, and Peter stops, eyes wide, and just stares at him as he says, “If you think your love is a shackle to me, then I must’ve done something wrong” and he storms out. 

Neither will give any ground, but FRIDAY tells Tony that Peter is on the roof of the New Avengers facility just looking out and Tony goes up there just to sit down next to him, watching the sunset to tell him, “I love you. There’s no two ways about that, and yeah, sometimes I get carried away about things, but I’m trying here. I know you love me too, and I don’t want you to be ten years down the line, wishing that these moments in your life went differently. I want you to have all the experiences that you can and should have. I want the world for you”

And Peter’s like, “You see us being together in ten years?” going all soft and doe-eyed, and Tony’s like, “Ten years, and ten more after that. I’m all yours, baby”

Peter tells Tony that these are things he can’t make decisions for, because while it would be admittedly easier to just let Tony take the reins, it’s his life, and he’s the one living it. “But can I make some decisions sometimes? Like, giant bunny decisions?” because Pepper warned Peter about that, and all he has to say back is, “Okay, but limit those to birthdays and Christmases, deal?”

[I just like a nice denouement :>]


	5. [Fic] Fem!Peter, Age Difference

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted for an anon on Tumblr](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185564991937/ok-heres-my-request-and-infinity-war-and-endgame)

The weight of Tony’s hand on her waist startles her a little, but she recovers quickly, smiling and leaning into her husband’s kiss. “You’re doing it again,” He whispers, breath tickling the shell of her ear.

Penny huffs, amused and embarrassed at getting caught; she fiddles with her wedding ring when she is nervous.

“Don’t be,” Tony assures her with another kiss to her cheek. “Everything is going to be fine.”

“You’re saying that as if you can’t see the way Captain America is frowning at us,” Penny tilts her head far enough that she can see said Captain currently holding court by canapés. Their eyes meet, blue to brown, and she holds her ground long enough to see him blush, turning away to angle his body towards Sam Wilson.

It’s a reunion of the Avengers - of sorts; pardons being dished out, lines being drawn in the sand about past and present loyalties, but surprisingly, the most contentious issue of the evening happens to be about the shotgun wedding of Penny Parker and Tony Stark.

As if the whole world and their dog hadn’t seen that coming.

Penny had been deeply aware of the more unsavoury tabloid bits about her. Opportunistic gold-digger, said one. The Stark Whore, said another. And her personal favourite, Home-wrecker. As if she was the reason Pepper and Tony weren’t the endgame couple of some jackoff’s weird twisted fantasies. 

Pepper had been the one to lead the lawsuit charge on her behalf, and it was gloriously bloodthirsty.

She hides her smile in her glass of orange juice. Even if her age didn’t stop her from drinking, the baby she’s carrying would be a good enough reason to. Penny tunes in just in time to see Tony smiling indulgently down at her, and she smiles back.

It will be fine. She will see to it that it is.


	6. [Fic] Mafia!AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally written and posted here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185508906322/hi-could-i-get-some-mafia-boss-tony-and-his)

Rhodey is giving him a break down of their latest dealings with the Irish, when he spots Peter by the Picasso. His boy looks lovely tonight; dressed in that deep red velvet smoking jacket, white dress shirt with the top two buttons undone, trousers that show off the curve of his arse deliciously. Tony smiles quietly to himself. 

He knows his eyes aren’t the only ones on Peter tonight; he’s seen Lord Loki and his enforcer (or brother?) Thor casting lingering looks that has had Loki storming off in jealousy (maybe lovers?), he’s caught the way the Irish mobster Steve Rogers tried coming over to talk to Peter, only to have Pepper slide between them with murder and a warning on her Dior red lips.

Rhodey sighs, and it brings his focus back to the man. “Sorry,” He says, feeling in no way sorry at all. Bruce rolls his eyes, but smiles, telling him to just go kiss your boy for godssakes.

Tony slaps his back amiably, turning to do just that, when he spots Hammer sidling up to Peter. He is too far away to hear their exchange but judging by the way Peter tenses up and his mouth moving in the shape of a definite ‘No’, he can just about guess. The thing that does it is Hammer slapping his boy’s ass, and he is two strides from breaking the man’s wrist. A look over to Pepper on the other end of the room tells him that his enforcer is also moving swiftly through the crowd. 

But what they didn’t expect is Peter breaking Hammer’s wrist himself.

The snapping of bone quiets the chatter of the room. Hammer squeals, whimpering as he goes to his knees. Peter holds him by his oddly angled wrist, forcing him further down. His boy is flushed, furious and beautiful as he calmly says, “I told you to keep your hands off me.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Pepper comes to a stop next to him. “I think his lessons with Natasha paid off, don’t you?”

“Yes, most definitely,” Tony says a little breathlessly. “Tell your girlfriend that she’s getting a raise.”

Peter looks up, meeting Tony’s eyes. The fury in his brown eyes disappears, leaving only a happy, sweet glint. He lets go of Hammer, deliberately stepping on his other hand and half-skipping to Tony’s side. “Time to go, baby?” Tony asks, looping an arm around his slender waist. 

“Yeah,” Peter smiles, arching his face up for a kiss. Tony laughs a little, licking up the taste of champagne and caviar from his boy’s tongue. 

It would be a lie if he said that he doesn’t feel a dark satisfied sense of pride that all the eyes watching them leave now know that Tony Stark’s Consort was more than just a pretty face.


	7. [Fic] Jealous!Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted for Anon](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185038172982/could-you-please-write-sth-peter-x-tony-but)

Tony is amused when he catches the murder in Peter’s eyes from across the room. There’s an angry flush to his cheeks, sweet brown eyes alight with a dark curl of…. Jealousy? Where did that come from? 

“…-wouldn’t you say so, Tony?” A firm, nagging touch to his arm drags his focus away. 

“Hm?” He curls his lips into a winning smile. The speaker, a blonde bombshell very much reminiscent of Christine Everhart, simpers, opening her mouth to speak, when Peter slips into the space next to him. Peter nods and smiles at the people Tony has been holding court with, holding himself with a confident ease that made Tony’s heartbeat stutter, wondering when Peter had lost that coltish bundle of nerves, and whether it had anything to do with them as a couple.

“Excuse me, I’ve got to borrow Mr. Stark for a minute. Avengers business. You know how it is,” He says, ducking his head in a perfect imitation of Steve Rogers’ patented best Scouts’ aw-shucks. It was lethal, and brutally effective when trying to get those uninitiated to the look in doing whatever he wanted.

Tony sees the moment a glaze of awe comes over their eyes; a sort of borrowed grandeur of being close to an Avenger’s issue. He has no doubt that they will go on to say to their acquaintances over Saturday brunch that they were there when Tony Stark was called away for Avengers business.

“Is there really an Avengers business?” Tony slides a hand to the small of Peter’s back. There’s a tension to his jaw that doesn’t settle until they find themselves striding past the French doors and into the muffled privacy of the garden. 

“No. I lied,” Peter mutters sullenly. For all that he is a man now, Tony can still see the kid he first met in Queens. More than that, he can see his lover; the one he bought a ring in a pretty blue box for. Smiling gently, Tony takes a slow step to him.

“Were you jealous?” At Peter’s silence, he reaches over to take his hand. Gently running his thumb over his wrist, he leans in to kiss Peter’s cheek. Startled brown eyes look up at him, and Tony thinks, ah, there he is. His sweet boy. The one he wants to spent the rest of his days loving. He leans in to kiss him again, and relishes the soft hitch of Peter’s breath. 

“Better?” He asks, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him in for an embrace. Peter tenses for a beat, but relaxes soon enough. He knows this isn’t the end of it, and they’ll need to talk about why Peter would ever feel the need to be jealous in the first place and what they can do as a couple to work on that.

But for now, Tony is content to hold him tight, hiding together from the rest of the world, kissing Peter’s worries away.


	8. [Fic] 5 + 1 Romance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185026439342/i-would-love-something-petertony-where-tony-does)

1\. _Sugar pie honey bunch_ , the note he had found tucked into his notebook begins, _You know that I love you_. “I can’t help myself, I love you and nobody else,” Peter reads it out loud. Looking up, he sees the tips of Tony’s ears turning pink as he buries himself in a wall of hologram coding. 

He smiles, carefully folding it away.

2\. Peter narrows his eyes at Tony. Taking a mouthful of lo mien, he chews it before saying, “Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield?”

Tony laughs, reaching over to wipe at the corner of Peter’s lips. “Would I rather kiss Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield?” The older man raises an eyebrow. “I would rather kiss you, to be honest.” 

Peter shakes his head, but he is smiling. “You old flatterer, you,” He huffs.

3\. The dip of a weight settling down on the mattress is what wakes him. “It’s just me,” Tony’s soft rumble calms his fight or flight instinct. He rolls over to tuck himself against his hip, breathing in the comforting waft of his cologne and the scent of new leather. 

Clever fingers slowly card through his hair. “I’m home now babe,” Tony says. Peter nuzzles his nose against the flesh of his thigh, feeling a warm happy glow settle in his chest at the thought that he is where home is for Tony. “Go back to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Okay.”

4\. Peter’s heard about people carving their initials in a tree, but this was taking it to a whole new level.

Tony grins maniacally, lifting his soldering tool up. “Ready?” He asks. Peter wraps his hands around his wrist. 

“Ready!” He hears Tony laugh, and he can feel the stretch of a smile on his lips when they move together. 

 _P + T_ carved into the underside of the gauntlet’s wrist piece. Peter is knocked for sixes at the sheer happiness he feels at something so simple like that. Looking over, he sees the same emotion reflected back to him in Tony’s eyes.

5\. The box sits on their bed, wrapped in brown paper with a note that says, _Open me_ in Tony’s scrawl. Curious, he slowly uncovers his gift. He has to bite back the startled bark that rises up in his throat, sticking tight with emotions. 

The glow of the arc reactor is bright in his eyes, but he does not fail to see the words _Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart_ rimmed around it like a halo. He’s seen this before, seated on a shelf in Tony’s lab. Pepper had given it to him; shaped out of the remnants of the first arc reactor that brought Tony home. 

A note flutters down when he picks it up. _All of me_ , it says. Peter smiles. Lifting it to his lips, he kisses the edges of the note.

+1 Tony tucks his hands into his pockets. Quelling his itch to touch Peter in public. It’s for the best, he reasons to himself. It would have been nice to just press close against him when they’re out and about, to hold his hand, be unreserved with his affections. Let the world know that Peter is his, just as much as he is Peter’s. 

But to do so would be to put a focus on Peter that he isn’t sure won’t be a dealbreaker.

The museum curator is droning on about something or another to the visiting group, and Tony’s only looking at Peter. Feeling like he just took a knockout punch when Peter turns, smiles, taking a half step to his side.

“Hey,” Peter whispers.

“Hey,” Tony smiles. He gets a glint of a warning before Peter is on his tiptoes, melting against him and kissing him. Tony is dimly aware that there are murmurs around them, the definite possibility of a phone camera capturing this for posterity, but all that fades when he invites the insistent licks of Peter’s tongue into his mouth. “Hey,” He says a little breathlessly, smiling into the kiss.

“Hey,” Peter grins, sliding his hands into Tony’s hair.


	9. [Fic] Starker High School AU (part 4)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on an ongoing au between violetstarker and myself. [Originally posted here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185133894222/starker-high-school-au-part-4)
> 
> [Part 1](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/184976897577/highschoolstarker-x-pining-peter-h-hey) l [Part 2](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/184988705552/starker-high-school-au-part-2-part-1-an-huge) I [Part 3](https://violetstarker.tumblr.com/post/185126847178/highschoolstarker-x-first-date-this-is-somewhat)

By the time the whole school figured out Peter Parker and Tony Stark were exclusive, like exclusive _exclusive_ , he’s getting stares from girls (incredulous, disbelieving and just that bit envious), boys (covetous glances with heat in them that Peter never saw directed at him), and those in between (simultaneously amused and curious).

It doesn’t bother him much; Tony was constantly by his side, walking him to and from his locker, smiling that secret smile just for Peter, kissing him sweetly when Peter tilts his head for it. May had shook her head, exasperatedly amused when he’d first introduced them to each other over Thai food, saying that it was about damn time Peter had gone after the boy that he never stopped talking about. “The way he speaks… It’s as if you could bring him the moon if he asked for it,” She’d said. 

“I would. If that’s what he wanted,” Tony answered solemnly, eyes serious. “I just want him to be happy.”

And happy is what he is. Impossibly so. 

Tony is the best (first!) boyfriend he could’ve ever asked for, but. But sometimes he wishes that they could do more than just kiss and cuddle. Sometimes, Peter wishes they could do the things he’s been reading about on the internet. Sometimes, just maybe, Peter thinks he is the only one who wants those things, those heated things that he thinks about in the dead of night, muffling his voice so as to not wake his aunt in her room down the hall. 

Peter tries not to let it show. Tries to revel in how lucky and absolutely loved he is in Tony’s arms, but maybe Tony just needs a sign. A show that Peter is ready for those heated things that Tony must be thinking about too, if the press of his erection to Peter’s hip last night when they kissed on the couch was to be believed.

Maybe he just needs to talk to MJ.

[’RHODES TELL YOUR BOY TO FUCK MY BOY ALREADY’ -  MJ

‘Operation Locked Closet is still in effect’ - Rhodey]


	10. [Fic] I tear my heart open

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185788417702/fic-i-tear-my-heart-open-starker)

For as long as Tony has remembered, he bore none of the soul marks everyone else did. Not that having any would have changed any of the neglect he had experienced from Howard, but it had taken him some time to grow a thicker second skin against the public scrutiny and perverse curiosity. 

(The jealousy of watching those around him finding their One had taken more than a little time to get over, but that was on him)

After a lifetime of trying to live up to an ever-changing bar of normal, then taking an Afghanistan shaped turn before sweeping into a giant wormhole over the skies of New York, he likes to think that he is more settled now. A little more grown-up, if you will. 

It doesn’t escape him, however, that the young Mr Parker’s eyes have as of late lingered on his chest where the knotted mess of scars from his time with the arc reactor, gaze falling away only when he catches Tony looking at him. It hasn’t escaped him either that Peter’s ears had turned a spring petal pink and he ducks his head in an aw-shucks sort of way whenever he pays him a compliment or even just stands near him.

Curiouser and curiouser.

He’s flattered, of course. Who wouldn’t be? Tony is desperately aware that he is more than half Peter’s age, and that whilst he may be fond of the young man, he can’t be too sure how to proceed because it’s all well and good a lifetime ago when his “Game™️” was at its peak, but now? Now, after being in a stable relationship with Pepper before splitting up in favour of being friends, now he’d be lucky if he could get through a date without spilling water all over himself.

And this was Peter, after all. Peter who is lovely and wonderful, and all the adjectives that go with that. Peter who has all the potential for greatness coursing through his veins, and if he doesn’t screw the guy up irrevocably with any unwanted advances just because he wanted to assuage a curiosity, Peter Parker could be more than just a hero.

So, he keeps his distance. Keeps his hands in his pockets, keeps his smiles amiable and fond, and never teasing. Reminds himself that this was just a phase, and that Peter will grow out of it eventually because a guy like him would have an equally brilliant soulmate waiting for him out there in the world, and oh, doesn’t that thought just twist something sour and miserable in him.

Tony stays where he is until one day he receives a distress call from Karen, telling him that Peter has taken a hit and is unconscious in an alleyway somewhere. He doesn’t hesitate to don the suit, alerting the Medical team before going straight to him.

(if his heart was beating in a heady rush of worry and panic the whole way there, FRIDAY is the only one who knows)

Peter lies sprawled, out cold against a dumpster. Tony is careful when he carries him back to the Facility, resisting only for a second when the doctors come with their stretchers and their machines to carry him the way to the medical wing. He mentally runs through all the things he and Peter agreed he would do if something like this happened; call May, make sure he has an airtight alibi for school.

He’s still caught up in his thoughts, watching the doctors administer first aid, cutting the suit away to reveal his chest when the sight of the familiar nebula of knotted mess spreading out, dark and unmissable on Peter’s chest shocks him back to the present. 

His scar. His scar is on Peter. His scar is Peter’s soul mark.

The realisation is a rush of cold water down his spine. How long has Peter known? Why hadn’t he said anything? More important, was he planning on hiding this?

Tony lifts a hand to the glass window that separates him from Peter. Feeling more than just the fear of losing someone he has become very attached to. All his insecurities come rushing back the moment a cold, cruel voice that sounded a lot like Howard's begins to whisper, “He doesn’t think you are worth it.”


	11. [Fic] I sew myself shut (sequel to Ch.10)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Originally posted here](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/post/185808909177/fic-i-sew-myself-shut-starker)

May Parker’s eyes meet his on her arrival, flickering to the sleeping form of her nephew before turning back to him. “So, you know.”

“So, I know.”

Tony purses his lips, nostrils flaring as he inhales in the cold sterile air of the medical bay. He nods, jaw clenching. “How many others?”

May hooks her handbag to the back of the chair, sitting down and taking Peter’s hand in hers. “Just Ben. It manifested around the time you were kidnapped in Afghanistan,” She says softly. Her words are in a measured cadence, as if carefully marked and plotted through to inflict as little damage as possible in their wake.

“We figured that it could’ve been because his One was someone who got into an accident or a fire or something,” May huffs, rubbing a thumb over the back of Peter’s hand. “We could’ve never expected you.”

Tony sits up in his chair, looking over at Peter’s unconscious form. The thought that he looks like sleeping beauty comes to him. There’s an itch for him to touch, to reach out because _he’s right there_ with his mark on him but he quells it by tucking his hands under his armpits. 

“I’m sorry,” He says, feeling the need to say it at least once.

“For what?” May tilts her head, eyes going flint hard. “For signing him up for a life of endless risks and danger? Or are you apologising for being his soulmate? Something you have absolutely no control over?”

Looking away, he stands, turning to stare at the beeping machinery. “All of it, I guess.”

Silence falls on them like heavy snow, interspersed only by the sounds of Peter’s breathing and heartbeat being evidenced in light and numbers. Eventually, he hears a chair being scraped on the floor, and feels May’s hand on his arm. 

“It’s not your fault,” She says gently. Tugging at him until he relents, folding himself into her embrace, she wraps her arms around him. Running her hands up and down his tired and bent spine, she waits until the shaking of his shoulders settle to speak. “He was already taking risks before you came to him, and he would’ve been in greater danger if you hadn’t been here to watch his back. To give him all the tools he needed to survive… He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“He’s my soulmate,” Tony croaks a little hysterically. “He–”

“He is too young? Yes, he’s young, but he is old enough to make his own choices,” May pulls back. “And he chose to stand by your side. You have to respect that.”

Tony searches her face. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

At that, May shrugs, smiling as she tucks a lock of hair over her ear. “Maybe you’re not the only one who felt like he had something to prove.”

* * *

 

Peter wakes to the sunlight drifting in from windows. He feels like death warmed over, but better than expected. He could’ve been dead, for one. 

He tries to sit up, but a strong hand to his chest, right over his mark pushes him back down. Tony’s eyes are dark and full of censure, and Peter tries not to recoil in fear of the reason it is there in the first place.

“May went to grab something to eat,” Tony says evenly. “She’ll be back soon.” His gaze slip to where his hand is, and it lingers for a beat before he snatches it back like he has been burnt. Peter feels his heart free falling at the singular thought of, _he knows_.

“Mr Stark–”

“We don’t have to talk about it right now if you don’t want to,” Tony interjects, lashes dark like crow’s wings as he looks down onto the blanket. “You just focus on getting better.”

Peter curls his hands into fists, praying that he is right, and that he is seeing it for what it really was; Tony is deferring, letting him take the lead, not making a move without his say so. 

“We should. Talk about it, I mean,” Peter says.

Tony doesn’t speak for a moment before moving his chair closer to the bed. “You have my mark.”

“I do.”

“Were you going to tell me?” Tony asks. Peter shrugs.

“Some day. I’d hoped… I don’t know. I know you don’t see me as,” He makes vague gestures with his hands, waving them in the air. “You know? A kid. Not good enough.”

“Peter…” Tony shakes his head. “If anything, I’m the one who’s not good enough. I’m… I’m old enough to be your dad, I’ve got a laundry list of issues on top of the health issues that come with being in the suit…” He sighs. “You could have anyone. It doesn’t have to be me. Even if that,” He taps a finger to the covered mark on his chest. “Says that it should be.”

“Do you trust me?” Peter gingerly winds his fingers around Tony’s wrist.

“With my life.” Brown eyes meet his earnestly, tongue licking his lips. Peter rubs a thumb to his pulse point, steeling his nerves and gathering his wits.

“Then trust me now. I don’t want anyone else, I just want you. Especially when this tells me it should be,” Peter smiles, slow, sweet and shy. “My happiest day was when I found out about the arc reactor. I spent days looking up everything I could about it, and what it did to a person. And then there was that one paparazzi shot of your bare chest…” Emboldened by the way Tony’s eyes are watching him with guarded hope, he reaches over, snaking a thumb to the base of Tony’s throat. “You. You are more than enough. You’re perfect.”

“Slight wrinkle to that though,” Tony huffs, trembling hand sliding over Peter’s on his throat. “I don’t have your mark on me. I don’t have anyone’s mark on me.”

Peter laughs, a short bark of a sound that loosens the tensed air between them. “That’s the thing that got you worried too?”

“Yeah, it is. I’m not made for anyone.” Peter takes a moment to take in the way that Tony really, truly believes that, and for one vicious moment, curses whoever led him to buy into that bullshit. 

“That’s not true,” Peter says. Insistently sitting up, he grabs both of Tony’s hands and holds them to his chest. “This is on you too. Tony, please. Give us a chance.” 

“It’s not going to be easy,” Tony says helplessly. Moving to sit on the bed, he urges Peter to meet his eyes. “People will talk.”

Peter resists the impulse to roll his eyes, still riding high on the happiness that _Tony isn’t saying no_. “People will always talk. Why not give them something to actually talk about?” He smiles, reaching over to cradle him by the cheek. He waits until Tony leans in, pressing their foreheads together. “So, yes?”

Tony closes his eyes, breath rushing out of him. “Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Please come to my ask and leave me a Starker prompt or imagine or head canon](https://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/ask)  
> The world is such a horrible place, so why waste your time with hate when you can always populate it with more things that make you smile. Like writing more content for the ship that they are vilifying you for :>  
> \--  
> I have never, will never, allow any reposting or translations of my works without my permission. All of my works will and shall only be hosted on my personal accounts on AO3 (j_gabrielle), Dreamwidth (j_gabrielle) and Tumblr (randomingoftherandomness, hardheartshere).
> 
> For those who say that I never said anything, it is clearly stated on my AO3 profile bio.
> 
> I do not have a Twitter account.
> 
> I do not have a Wattpad account.
> 
> **Please Do Not Repost My Fics**


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